North Korea seems to have taken “initial steps” to deploy mobile long-range missiles, the head of the U.S. intelligence community said Tuesday, as the unpredictable communist nation churns out military threats.

A source from northerly Hoeryeong in North Hamkyung Province told Daily NK today, “Before the [ROK-U.S. ‘Key Resolve-Foal Eagle’] military exercises started on the 11th, orders were handed down telling us to raise the readiness posture one step from ‘combat mobilization.’” Therefore, he added, “There will be high level drills for a week, including not just underground training but also some combined drills involving simulated enemy action.”

But most importantly, the source said he had heard from military cadres that “sometime today or tomorrow there will be an important announcement.” It is unclear when the announcement will occur or what it is set to reveal, but the source predicted that a quasi-state of war could be declared.

“There have been orders to distribute all reserve supplies to the people. The emergency supplies stored in the No. 2 Depot have been sent out to public distribution locations,” he said. “They are just waiting for the order to distribute it.”

It was one day before the communist country defied international warnings by detonating what it calls a miniaturized atomic device, drawing a chorus of worldwide condemnations and prompting the United Nations Security Council to start work on “appropriate measures” against the North’s latest provocation. The North also conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

“It appears that North Korea conducted the engine test aimed at extending the range of the KN-08 missile to over 5,000 kilometers,” said a source. He declined to be identified.

“If the North decides the test successful, it is expected to operationally deploy the new long-range rocket,” he added.

The Joint Staff assessment was ordered following recent intelligence reports indicating development work on the North Korean KN-08 mobile ICBM is nearing completion. Several KN-08s were spotted moving around North Korea in January.

Inspired by the statement of a spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army, students across the DPRK volunteer to join or rejoin the KPA, considering the sanctions invented by the U.S. and its followers to be a declaration of war.
According to data available, hundreds of thousands of students at universities and colleges across the country have volunteered to join or rejoin the KPA since the publication of the statement.
Among them are scores of thousands of students at Kim Il Sung University, Kim Cheak University of Technology and Pyongyang University of Architecture.